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One of the best gifts CityBoy and I get all year is our annual membership to the Museum of Modern Art (aka MoMA), courtesy of CityBoy’s always thoughtful parents. This little plastic card entitles you to visit MoMA any time your heart demands it, taking in some of the city’s best art and film.

The film series alone is worth the membership, since MoMA is host to several films a day, ranging from theme- or director-driven series to old remastered classics to this year’s Oscars contenders. It’s pretty insane.

Another major perk are these members-only previews, where you get to enjoy their latest and greatest art exhibits before they open to the general public. CityBoy and I have yet to actually make one of these previews, but getting the little postcard in the mail alerts us to cool new things that we might otherwise miss.

Running through May 2012, this exhibit draws on works from Rivera’s 1931 showing at MoMA, where he produced five “portable murals” on-site for the museum. This show includes his sketches and drawings for the works, as well as drawings for the now infamous murals at Rockefeller Center.

You get up close and personal with some of his most famous images, including Agrarian Leader Zapata, which I’m sure every teenaged revolutionary has pinned up to their bedroom or dorm. This piece in particular is so fascinating because the museum has framed it so that you can see the back of the mural, as well as an X-ray of it, so you can see the inner framework.

Frozen Assets was a piece I’d never seen before and it speaks so clearly to our current times that it’s almost eerie.

Those anonymous sleeping bodies curled up underneath the angular and jutting city, with the faceless bankers counting up their riches below. It’s so creepy and disturbing.

If you can, see these murals in person. The scale of them, the weight of their subject matters, the tactile play of light and dark in the materials, is something that the art book or poster just doesn’t do justice.